Just Not The Time
by Lady Marksman
Summary: In the wake of Naruto's one night stand tarnishing their 16-year marriage, the Hokage's wife, Hinata, is learning to balance the social, political, and emotional strain a secret like this could put on her family.
1. Chapter 1

"Boruto, how many times have I told you there's no one here," Hinata's craggy, grumpy voice floated from between the white sheets of her bed.

"Mama, I know what I know." Boruto's voice was alert, unusual for her son at 3 AM. Hinata's ears perked at a creak that came from the base floor of her home, a sound she identified as part of her kitchen. Inky blue brows knit together as she concealed her chakra in a breath and activated her Byakugan. Indeed, a figure was crawling around her kitchen while her husband's impossibly bright chakra shone from the bathroom attached to their bedroom. Hinata sucked in a breath and while exhaling, let go of the concealment on her chakra.

"Boruto, _nobody's_ here. I just checked," she smiled sweetly. Pulling herself out of bed and summoning a large gust into her lungs, she shouted, "And if anyone were in my house at this hour without my invitation, I would already know,". Hinata pulled Boruto into her arms as she heard a clatter from the bathroom. "Everything's alright, Boruto," she patted his blonde hair and adjusted his crumpled pajamas that had rolled up in his haste to alert his mother.

"Okay, g'night, mama," Boruto yawned, the adrenaline leaving his system. Hinata opened her bedroom door and watched as her son's form retreated into his room, eyes half-lidded. As soon as she heard the click of his door, Hinata's pearly white eyes narrowed towards the bathroom. Silently marching towards the peeking light, Hinata's mind raced with bright, hot anger. Her pale hand grasped the cold metal of the door leading in and as if the cool silver had shocked her, Hinata relaxed. The muscles between her brows and her forehead eased and her shoulders slid away from their tensed position by her ears. She let go of the door handle and retreated into the comfort and warmth of her white sheets with her long inky hair mingling in the crevices of the pillow.

Hinata awoke the next morning with her husband by her side, snoring loudly and smelling faintly of alcohol. She felt her jaw clench but forcibly unhinged the tightness there along with the tightness in her chest. It was an ugly feeling, she decided, and so Hinata made up her mind to begin her day with prepping for her morning spar. Hinata swung her slim legs out of bed and stood as soon as Naruto's tanned arm moved to cradle her.

Confused by the missing body in his bed, Naruto's eyes cracked open but the light became overbearing to his senses. His head throbbed and the sudden urge to vomit hit his being like a wall. Fighting his senses, his cerulean eyes searched for his wife in the room and found her making her way to their bathroom. Guilt plagued his exhausted body and he knew he couldn't keep his secret from her anymore. Shifting so that he could stare at the ceiling, Naruto contemplated telling his adoring wife of his tragic and regretful infidelity. She had sacrificed so much for him and loved him so fiercely especially when no one would look him in the eye. Tears pricked his eyes as he sat up in bed, still battling nausea in his belly and the weight in his chest.

His eyes watched her as she emerged some 20 minutes later in her ninja attire. He opened his mouth and she paused in her tracks, stilled and waiting. She reminded him of a viper. Her body shifted towards him and her big, lunar eyes stared at him, the edges marred with obvious signs of crying. Immediately, Naruto avoided her gaze and his lips closed in shame.

"If you think that one mistake is going to ruin my marriage to the bravest soul in Konoha, you are absolutely wrong, Naruto-kun," Hinata smiled, that forgiving, old smile of hers. It had been years since the war but Naruto saw no aging in her features and he felt his heart swell. His thoughts jumped to Neji, her beloved cousin who had left her in his care, and for a moment, the guilt tore large chunks of his heart out, gnashed his feelings between its rotten teeth, and spat them out on the floor. Naruto swore even blinking would make him vomit right then and there.

"It won't happen again, Hinata-chan, I promise," he scratched the back of his head. To Hinata, he looked like happiness itself. She felt stupid for having been mad in the first place. Of course, he would never mean to cheat on her. He was probably drunk. With long work days like that, Hinta figured, she would start drinking, too.

Moving towards him, Hinata carefully tucked him back into bed. She placed a kiss onto his forehead and quietly shut the bedroom door on her way out. Floating towards Boruto's room, her anger rose to the surface for a moment. Then, as soon as it peaked, it died as she entered her first born's room. He was passed out in his bed. She wondered how she ended up with such an observant son with a father as careless as that. A genius in his own right, Hinata's heart beat with pride in her chest. Boruto would turn 15 soon and Hinata wondered where the time had gone.

Making her way out of Boruto's room, she gazed at the door of her second child, Himawari. The young girl was physically much like her with paper white skin and delicate hands and feet. She carried her father's inner fire, though, and many saw Himawari as Boruto's equal despite being so much younger. Again, Hinata felt her face flush with pride and she sighed a deep breath for her beautiful family.

Absentmindedly, Hinata gazed at the clock in the hallway when absolute fear struck her. It was 10 AM. She was half an hour late. Eyes widening and heart pounding with a different motivation, Hinata rushed down the stairs. She arrived at the base of the stairs and fumbled to find her ninja shoes but for the life of her, could not. Exhaling and stringing curses along, Hinata settled for her civilian shoes and nearly slammed the door on her way out of her home.

Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, Hinata's newly cropped shoulder-length hair whipped her face. Her chakra enhanced jumps were going to drain her for a bit at the beginning of her warm-up spar but she figured it would be alright. Spotting the old academy training grounds, Hinata caught sight of her long-time sparring partner, Uchiha Sasuke. He sat atop the polls they had been tied to as rookie ninja in the academy. His eyes were closed. Jumping to the ground before him, Hinata bowed deeply and apologized.

"Hinata, in 15 years, I have never seen you wear civilian shoes. Have I gone that soft?" Sasuke's voice was a welcome, deep rumbling but Hinata could only hear her chest pounding with the soft burning that cardio brought on and the pain of her discovery last night.

"Hinata!"

Hinata awoke with a start but her eyes refused to open. While she hadn't fainted in years, Hinata knew that her body was often left exhausted after having an episode and in her frustration, her Byakugan activated. Her eyes saw Sasuke's familiar chakra systems floating among strangers' systems. A particular set catching her eye and it was making its way down the hall towards her room.

It was strange to watch, for extended periods during peacetime, the chakra flow in hospitals. Hinata hardly had the stomach for gazing among the floating ghosts of people she knew. Chakra had no real warmth or kindness to them but an energy that buzzed with curious life. It was emotionless and oftentimes, the chakra inside someone did not match who they were. The few exceptions were her husband (whose chakra was arguably brighter than his personality), Uchiha Sasuke (his felt like a calm river stream until provoked in which case, she knew, was a bottomless and violent ocean), and Pain (a chakra that felt like sheer pressure, as if it would break his skin and pour out much like a berry crushed between one's fingers). The thought of watching people's skeletons made Hinata's skin crawl and she swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat.

The familiar chakra entered the room and Hinata decided to deactivate her Byakugan. The motion was swift and automatic, the result of years of training and sometimes overuse. She recognized the chakra as the pattern hiding in her kitchen last night but due to overexertion, Hinata found she still could not tame her eyes and open them. The figured walked around the bedside smelling of medicinal herbs and hummed while, what Hinata could only guess, as taking her vitals.

"She'll be fine right? Her husband is gonna have my head if she's disabled for life," Sasuke's voice rang from the far left corner of her hospital room.

"The Hokage's wife is not in any life-threatening danger. She, um, is exhausted. I'll have her stay until she's feeling better," there was a pause and Hinata could feel her blood drain from her face. "You don't have to stay, Sasuke. I can, um, take care of Hinata-san," Sakura's voice shifted uncomfortably in the room.

"No. I'll stay. Hinata has seen me on my worst days, nurtured my awful temper, and cooked for me. The least I can do is stay until she's better," Sasuke finished. The bite in his voice was not lost on Hinata or Sakura. The discomfort was clear between the three powerhouses in the room. Sakura excuses herself after explaining the discharge process for 1-day patients. "Okay, _Hinata_, what the fuck was _that_?"


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata shifted uncomfortably, trying to find the best way to explain the obvious strain between her and Sakura. The material of the hospital bed was uncomfortable and itchy and the silence in the room clung to her skin as if humid air had been introduced. Her recently manicured nails, it was peacetime after all, dug into her palms as her brain racked its' contents for excuses. In the end, Hinata's tight chest let go of the breath it had caged and she knew it was best to tell Sasuke the truth. Even if she did lie, Hinata knew it would be worse if he found out later. She had seen Sasuke's wrath before and silently prayed she would never be on the receiving side of it.

While diving into her suspicions with Sasuke, Hinata found she was slowly able to open her eyes. The culmination of her complaints about Naruto's recent tardiness to bed, his sudden trip abroad, and his newly found drinking habit found a spearhead when she told of the intruder in her home last night. Hinata found herself exhausted by the end of it and guilty. Her father had given her only one piece of practical advice about relationships. 'A partner should not cheat but a partner is human,' he had said, '...and so, in order to forgive someone you cannot pin them against their best. You already knew they weren't at their best when they decided to'. Thinking of her father's words easily placed Naruto and Sakura at the forefront of her mind. Giving into childish wants like yelling or publically taking out her anger on either was something that made Hinata feel sick.

"Sasuke, they woke my son," her eyes shifted to the floor and Hinata's chest deflated, crushing her lungs and the hope that being an adult about the situation would be easy.

"But how do you know it's _her_?" Her eyes flashed to Sasuke, whose face had gone pale and brows had tensed until they had almost met in the middle. He was staring hard at the ground but when her head shifted, so as to hide her tears from him, Sasuke's eyes found her. Hinata had forgotten that she wasn't the only one whose heart was caught in the crossfire.

Sasuke knew from the look on Hinata's face that it wasn't a suspicion. Whatever proof she had, Sasuke understood that not only did she know it was true but she was incredibly betrayed by it. Silence fell between the two figures again, both their eyes tearing and hearts crashing onto the sterile white floor beneath them. The room began to reek of medicinal herbs. Sasuke could feel a shake begin at the base of his naval and he fought the urge to yell out and scream. He turned his face skyward as the loose tears cascaded down his cheeks and down the column of his neck. Sasuke had been in his teens, murdering his brother between his fingers, the last time he had carried a hurt as empty and unforgiving as this.

Inhaling through his nose, his grip on his pants tightened. Sasuke felt his teeth grind themselves together but did not dare to let loose the cry in his throat.

"It was her. My eyes make no mistakes," her blank stare turned their attention to the shaking man in the corner of the room. With his face turned toward the ceiling and his arm tensed straight, Hinata thought that he reminded her of her father when he was praying. Her expression softened. "We should hurry, the Clans Head meeting starts at 3," she almost whispered.

Filling his lungs with air, Sasuke held the breath captive for a moment in his ribs before letting go.

"I hate those meetings," he grumbled as he brought his hand to rake through his charcoal locks. "I feel like a kid again," his eyes turned toward Hinata. The tension in his muscles faded away and Sasuke actively felt the ground beneath him. For a brief moment, a smile crossed his face and Hinata's eyes crinkled into upward crescents and her own smile followed suit. Sasuke fought the tug at the corner of his lips. Then, a star had suddenly burst into existence in the terrible, bleak hospital room and Sasuke recoiled for a moment before registering that it was Hinata's laugh.

"Sasuke, you were so serious back then," Hinata said while closing her eyes and picturing the first time she'd ever met the infamous Uchiha Sasuke. He was a tiny boy with the same inky locks but he was tall and she remembered thinking that he was possibly the same height as Neji despite being two years younger. Looking straight at Sasuke, Hinata laughed again, "You never smiled when we were kids. Only when you were bullying Naruto-kun,".

"He was," Sasuke started, "Sorry, _is_, a knucklehead,".

"Well, we'll both be knuckleheads if we're late to this meeting. It's the first one of the year. We shouldn't be late," her gentle voice floated over but Sasuke knew that if they waited longer, panic would coat her calm words. Climbing out of the hospital bed, Hinata let the ground carry her for a moment before standing the way she had been taught as a child in the Hyuga household - upright and proud. Nodding at each other, the pair opened the door to the outer hallway.

To both their surprise, Sakura was standing outside the door.

"Hinata-san, I, um, know its inappropriate to ask but when you're ready maybe we can have lunch and _talk_," Sakura said, her head low and her emerald eyes dulling for a moment. Despite the white, flashing anger plaguing her being, Hinata knew Sakura. They grew up together, trained together, fought in wars together. It would feel cheap to forgive Naruto so quickly and not treat Sakura with the same kindness.

"I'm not ready to talk yet, Sakura-san," Hinata's voice drifted away and Sakura felt anxiety rush over her head, taking her in its wide undertow. But, with a small smile, Hinata continued, "But I do sit at the corner tea shop every Saturday in the morning. Perhaps we can talk then, I'll let you know". Sakura mumbled a thank you.

The medical ninja watched as Sasuke and Hinata's figures headed towards the exit and even corrected them when they turned left instead of right. Though her feet were bound to the floor, Sakura couldn't help but feel that disagreeing with Hinata was different than anything she'd ever experienced. The Hokage's wife's temperament was nothing like Ino, the Hokage himself, or even Sasuke, though he seemed to be the closest. Sakura felt like there was no one she could really compare Hinata's personality to. She'd always been Hinata, slow to reveal her own feelings but was easily upset.

Checking the notes for her next patient, the medical ninja contemplated her game plan for the rest of her shift as she only had one patient left. She made her way down the hallway and took a sharp turn left. The vitals had been taken this morning, the tests were scheduled this evening, and holding the patient overnight was necessary. Gazing down at the chart, she noticed the patient was an elderly woman and decided to go in. Paying a visit would help Sakura possibly debrief the woman, if she was ready, about the next day's agenda.

Finding the correct corresponding door, Sakura hesitated in the door's wake. It was large and glassy, like Hinata's eyes. Pulling herself together and cracking her joints and knuckles, Sakura jumbled the familiar, creaky doorknob to an open. She stepped in and immediately melted at the scent of vanilla, a luxury item she took great pleasure of finding whenever possible during the war.

"Oh, Uchiha-san," came a surprised croak from the hospital bed.

"Hoki-san," Sakura trailed off for a moment, "...good afternoon, but its just Sakura. Sasuke and I have been, um, separated," she trailed off once more, pressing the tips of her fingers to her lips.

"I'm sorry, dear, I didn't know," came the strained reply. "It's okay. Uchiha men are finicky. Knew a few in my day and they were the most stubborn bulls I'd ever met," the old woman huffed. "Besides, I'm divorced, too," she winked at Sakura and the medical ninja felt herself chuckle. Sakura then continued on asking questions of the agenda for tomorrow, any questions about the billing (if there was to be any), and post-treatment options.

The old woman, Akemi-san, threw in a few well-timed jokes and her laughter bounced off the walls reminiscent of the summer bells Sakura heard growing up.

"But, y'know, I came home with him cause he was drunk!" Sakura huffed. "I was, too, but I couldn't let anyone see the Hokage like that. We've had one too many incidents with Tsunade-sensei," a faint smile crawled up on Sakura's lips thinking of her old sensei. "In any case, we kissed and there's no excuse for us. But that's the extent. I _swear_," green eyes clashed with greying ones in a panic.

"Sakura, Hinata is famed for being a patient and forgiving woman. But you should hold your head high knowing that you _know_ you crossed a line. Not many people can easily admit to their mistakes. I know old farts who are still fighting about things that happened before some of you were born!" Before she could stop it, Sakura felt a smile pull her lips upward. The only thing Sakura could do now was to learn and help Hinata as she healed.


End file.
